Video Podcast example: small voices, kindergarten students use literacy groups to create, practice and film vodcasts followed by reflection small voices podcast class pages kidsincharge
Name: Michael Richards
School: Mildred L. Day School
Grade: K-5
Location: Arundel, Maine
How You Are Using Tech In Your Classroom: I use technology to enhance what the classroom teacher and their students is already doing in their classroom. In the primary grades we do a lot of activities to help build literacy skills. Our first graders are making a wiki to support their learning of dinosaurs and our second graders use Voicethread to showcase their knowledge of Christopher Columbus, Pilgrims, and for their book reports. Our second graders type their letters to their penpals which has been successful for many years. Our kindergartners will be documenting their learning experiences with bears through a Voicethread project. We provide parents with links to online resources to help extend classroom experiences into their homes.
Name: Brandy Magdos
School: PH Greene Elementary
Grade: First Grade
Location: Webster, Texas
How You Are Using Tech In Your Classroom: As a first grade teacher responsible for all areas of the curriculum and no computer teacher, I do lots of different things with technology in my classroom. After successfully writing several grants, my students use and have access to a SMARTBoard, a visual presentation station, video conferencing equipment, iPods, laptops, AlphaSmarts, handheld classroom perforance systems, desktop computers and our own green screen. My first graders create word documents for poetry, invitations and reports; they create power points on research of their choice and use the alphasmarts for both nad we do all the editing in the computer lab. We create excel graphs and spreadsheets as we collect data and show different ways to show it. They use the SMARTBoard for math, phonics, morning messages, and spelling practice. They use the visual presenters to share weekly projects and their final writings for writers workshop. We connect weekly with another first grade class with our video conference equipment and do review of curriculum with games and such. We also connect with experts from different places throughout hte year as it fits our curriculum. They use to iPods to beat the computer on math facts and sight words, listen to poetry and songs, and to watch short videos related to what we are studying. I am hoping to create some podcasts this year as well! We use our handheld classroom perforance system to review our curriculum. We are currently working on a video to send to an author we have been studying. This year I created a class wiki that I am keeping updated with class pictures, info and student work this year. I also have a website that my kids have acccess to with related links to what we are studying each month. I have used it for about 7 years so far. As a class we also participate in many online projects throughout the year, such as the Monster project, many Technospud projects, and a teddy bear exchange.
Name: Cassie West
School: St. Mary's / St. Alphonsus Regional Catholic School
Grade: Second Grade
Location: Glens Falls, NY
How are you using tech in your classroom: I am lucky enough to have a Smartboard in my classroom. We use this daily in many ways. During our morning meeting, we go over the Daily Buzzword which can be found at www.wordcentral.com. We learn a new word each day and we use an excel graph to participate in the short quiz. Each student has a turn accessing the website and opening up our buzzword graph in excel. They easily input the information. I also use the Smartboard to review by creating Jeopardy! games in all subjects. I take my class to the Technology Lab once a week and use this time to enrich in all subjects. We use Kidspiration to create graphic organizers, go on the internet using links on my webpage to research different projects. We also try to participate in Read Across The Planet each year. This is a videoconferencing project where you are paired with another participating class. Each class completes a project and presents it. In the past we have done poetry readings, a play based on the book Caps For Sale, and a Reader's Theater of one of our favorite stories. We also try to participate in as many Techospud Projects as we can. We have palm pilots available to use and are using themto perform DIBELS testing and to help those children in need to do some skills work. I try to offer my students practical uses of technology and skills that they will take with them through subsequent grades. The use of excel, powerpoint and the internet for research are all skills they will utilize more and more as they get older. When started at an early age, confidence in using technology
Name: Kevin Hodgson
School: William E. Norris Elementary School,
Grade: 6
Location: Southampton, Massachusetts
How You Are Using Tech In Your Classroom: I use all sorts of technology -- from Weblogs to Wikis -- but podcasting seems to have taken hold with my young writers, and last year, I started up a site called Youth Radio (http://youthradio.wordpress.com/) that connected my classroom with other upper elementary classrooms from around the United States, and the world. This started mostly with teachers in the National Writing Project but has now extended beyond those circles as more and more teachers get interested in flattening their classrooms. The blog site allows us to post podcasts and then use the Weblog comment feature to provide peer feedback and reaction to what they have heard from others. I find the technology has opened up windows for new audiences and changed the way my students view their work. Teachers have freedom and flexibility for integrating the podcasting site into their curriculum, and there has been a variety of projects -- from found poems inside of literature books, to first-person fictional narratives, to full-length digital story/plays.
Name: Charlie Unkeless
School: John Burroughs Middle School
Grade: 7
Location: Los Angeles
How You Are Using Tech In Your Classroom: I have been a 6th grade teacher for four years as part of the core math and science curriculum. I also taught art in the spring semesters. I am currently teaching a 7th grade elective in our computer lab. I started a class on Aeronautics using flight simulators purchased with a California Career Technology Grant which I was awarded this year. Some of our classes projects and pictures are located at GlidersAndAeronautics
I also encourage kids to create artwork in traditional ways after which I will allow them to scan or create alterations using Wacom tablets and paint programs. They learn classical techniques like constructing a golden rectangle and logarithmic spiral as an extension from their math class. Art Class
Hi Jen,
As a K-5 MST Specialist I have a few examples to share.
2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders are part of an HP grant, award and are collecting and identifying macro invertebrates to help determine water quality. They are also documenting examples of seasonal changes and human impact both positive and negative. These kids are using Tungsten E2 handhelds with Pasco sensors (temperature and pH) out in the field to collect real-time data. They are documenting their collections using digital cameras, recording their voices out in the field using iPods with Belkin voice recorders, and are marking the data collection spot with GPS units. Back in the classroom they are sharing their findings on our Pond Partners Wiki. They are scheduled to present their findings to the Monroe County Water Coalition meeting later in the spring.
3rd graders collect real-time weather data each morning using a Kestrel Pocket Weather Tracker. They also measure the length of a shadow stick (when we actually have a sunny morning here in western NY), and use a website to find the sunrise/sunset times and figure out the photoperiod. Every other week they use Excel to create graphs of the data. The amount of data collected so far and the opportunities for data analysis have been awesome.
To help 2nd graders explore concepts of migration related to the Monarch, we symbolically "migrated" from Canada to Mexico using GPS receivers. After our initial science classroom lessons on Monarchs, students used a Google Earth file created to mark key locations and travel the migration route of the butterfly. Then we headed outside. With GPS receivers in hand, students first had to locate and start at waypoint "CANADA". Once there they found a hidden cache with the first part of a story of a butterfly named "Monarch X." They navigated next to the second waypoint, in our town of Webster, NY. The story in that cache continued the story of Monarch X telling of the dangers the butterfly faced crossing Lake Ontario. The story continued on at each waypoint (total of 6) cache until we finally reached "Mexico." The GPS activity outside matched the locations previously explored on the Google Earth file. Throughout the journey the students learned what is meant to migrate, heard examples of perils faced by animals as they migrate, discovered predator/prey relationships, reinforced key geography terms and skills, and identified cause/effect relationships. The activity was followed up by sending paper butterflies to Mexico through the Journey North program. Journey North also provides students with maps of butterfly sightings during the migration.
Name: Carol Broos
School: Sunset Ridge School District #29
Grade: 4-8
Location: Northfield, Illinois
How You Are Using Tech In Your Classroom: I am the music teacher at the school and have a Soundtree Mac MIDI Lab. It has a GEC3 controller for communication with the students and teacher. iLife (iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand, iWeb) is the center of the lab, along with Sibelius, for composition. First, the fourth graders start on Sound Studio and the keyboard to record their stories. They compose music and produce projects that involve multi-media. The goal is to have all files posted on my website www.carolbroos.com Students comment on each other’s compositions and share files within the school. A group of talented musicians are also part of the Vermont MIDI project, where professional musicians comment on their compositions on the password protected site. www.vtmidi.org Students also create websites involving podcasts and music. Some of the more interesting ones are www.lazertron.net and www.chordsville.com Sunset Ridge just started a district-wide podcast website [[http://www.pod29.com+|www.pod29.com ]]where students and teachers can post podcasts on the web. There is an all-school musical where the stage crew runs the computer light board, wireless sound system and with headsets. Students run the technical side of the show. There are many “toys” within the music classroom: an audio recorder, so students could interview various people outside the classroom; two still cameras; three video cameras, for students to use in the classroom and home; various card readers, use for their personal memory sticks; and a HD camera for important music events. Finally, for teachers I developed a teacher-friendly website with links and where teachers can post their compositions. www.beatechie.com and two wiki's one for my presentations for teachers (http://musictechie.pbwiki.com/) and one for the teachers of Sunset Ridge to post their notes from conferences. http://srsconferences.pbwiki.com/
How Are You Using Tech in Your Classroom: I try to incorporate technology in my classroom in meaningful ways. We have 5 desktop computers, 25 handhelds, 5 wireless handheld keyboards, a mimio, and an ELMO. We use Kid Pix, Kidspiration, Waterford, and Accelerated Reader software. On the handhelds we have vocabulary, spelling, and several math software. We also have an animation software called Novi Animator. We use the wireless keyboards along with the handhelds to type our creative writing stories. We use the mimio in a variety of ways such as watching Brainpop junior movies, creating whole class graphic organizers using Kidspiration, accessing information over the internet, and participating in internet projects. We have participated in many Technospud internet projects, Monster Exchange and The Tooth Tally Project. Our ELMO is another tech tool we love because it projects everything. We enjoy using it not only for teacher read stories but sharing our creative writing stories with the whole class. The ELMO has helped us all become better writers because we can project our stories and the whole class collaborates together to help find ways to make our writing better. As part of the Salute to Dr. Suess Project we created a class wiki. http://wagsclass.wikispaces.com/Dr.+Seuss We also have a classwebpage. http://www.stjames.k12.la.us/pes/ewaguespack/classwebpage/wag07.html
They Are Never Too Young To Learn
Jennifer L. Wagner
http://jlwagner.pbwiki.com
Online Project Coordinator
Assisted by
Maria Knee
Wendy Smith
Kathy Shields
Brent Coley
Amy Vejraska
and various other people!
RESOURCES
What Every Teacher Should Know About Technology -- Bernie PooleBlogging, It's Elementary, My Dear Watson -- Lorrie Jackson
Tech-ing Wisely in the K-2 Classroom -- Tech Team Education World
eElementary Web Site
Math Instruction Can Be Enhanced by the Techie Teacher -- Marilyn Western
Literacy Technology in the Elementary Classroom -- Ira Socol
Podcasting in the Elementary Classroom -- Wes Fryer (From EdTechTalk "It's Elementary Webcast"
Using Technology to Enhance Literacy in Elementary School Children -- Dr. Alice Christie
It's Elementary!! Using Electronic Portfolios with Young Students -- Dr. J. Moritz & Dr. Alice Christie
Primary Resources.co.uk -- Lots of interactive downloads
EdTechTalk.com - the best staff dev. you can get for free!
PreK - 6th Grade Ning -- http://projectsbyjen.ning.com/
Lesson Ideas:
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=164 -- Kindergarten Takes a Trip To the Zoohttp://www.digitales.us/story_details.php?story_id=6
http://ecakinderkids.weebly.com/index.html
http://www.cdli.ca/Groundhog/NewGhog/
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=101541
http://staff.prairiesouth.ca/~cassidy.kathy/index.html
http://www2.murrieta.k12.ca.us/tovashal/bcol
Dare County, North Carolina (northeastern NC)
http://nhes.wikispaces.com/http://nhes.wikispaces.com/Week+21+5th+1-28
http://nhe.dare.k12.nc.us/websites/14_21/dream.shtml
http://nhe.dare.k12.nc.us/websites/14_21/dream-2.shtml
http://nhe.dare.k12.nc.us/websites/14_16/a-timeline-of-martin-luth.shtml
http://nhe.dare.k12.nc.us/websites/14_42/new-years-resolutions.shtml
Video Podcast example: small voices, kindergarten students use literacy groups to create, practice and film vodcasts followed by reflection
small voices podcast
class pages
kidsincharge
Kinder class website: http://ripplingpond.weebly.com
Kids Site and Blog: http://kidsincharge.weebly.com
Name: Michael Richards
School: Mildred L. Day School
Grade: K-5
Location: Arundel, Maine
How You Are Using Tech In Your Classroom: I use technology to enhance what the classroom teacher and their students is already doing in their classroom. In the primary grades we do a lot of activities to help build literacy skills. Our first graders are making a wiki to support their learning of dinosaurs and our second graders use Voicethread to showcase their knowledge of Christopher Columbus, Pilgrims, and for their book reports. Our second graders type their letters to their penpals which has been successful for many years. Our kindergartners will be documenting their learning experiences with bears through a Voicethread project. We provide parents with links to online resources to help extend classroom experiences into their homes.
Name: Brandy Magdos
School: PH Greene Elementary
Grade: First Grade
Location: Webster, Texas
How You Are Using Tech In Your Classroom: As a first grade teacher responsible for all areas of the curriculum and no computer teacher, I do lots of different things with technology in my classroom. After successfully writing several grants, my students use and have access to a SMARTBoard, a visual presentation station, video conferencing equipment, iPods, laptops, AlphaSmarts, handheld classroom perforance systems, desktop computers and our own green screen. My first graders create word documents for poetry, invitations and reports; they create power points on research of their choice and use the alphasmarts for both nad we do all the editing in the computer lab. We create excel graphs and spreadsheets as we collect data and show different ways to show it. They use the SMARTBoard for math, phonics, morning messages, and spelling practice. They use the visual presenters to share weekly projects and their final writings for writers workshop. We connect weekly with another first grade class with our video conference equipment and do review of curriculum with games and such. We also connect with experts from different places throughout hte year as it fits our curriculum. They use to iPods to beat the computer on math facts and sight words, listen to poetry and songs, and to watch short videos related to what we are studying. I am hoping to create some podcasts this year as well! We use our handheld classroom perforance system to review our curriculum. We are currently working on a video to send to an author we have been studying. This year I created a class wiki that I am keeping updated with class pictures, info and student work this year. I also have a website that my kids have acccess to with related links to what we are studying each month. I have used it for about 7 years so far. As a class we also participate in many online projects throughout the year, such as the Monster project, many Technospud projects, and a teddy bear exchange.
Name: Cassie West
School: St. Mary's / St. Alphonsus Regional Catholic School
Grade: Second Grade
Location: Glens Falls, NY
How are you using tech in your classroom: I am lucky enough to have a Smartboard in my classroom. We use this daily in many ways. During our morning meeting, we go over the Daily Buzzword which can be found at www.wordcentral.com. We learn a new word each day and we use an excel graph to participate in the short quiz. Each student has a turn accessing the website and opening up our buzzword graph in excel. They easily input the information. I also use the Smartboard to review by creating Jeopardy! games in all subjects. I take my class to the Technology Lab once a week and use this time to enrich in all subjects. We use Kidspiration to create graphic organizers, go on the internet using links on my webpage to research different projects. We also try to participate in Read Across The Planet each year. This is a videoconferencing project where you are paired with another participating class. Each class completes a project and presents it. In the past we have done poetry readings, a play based on the book Caps For Sale, and a Reader's Theater of one of our favorite stories. We also try to participate in as many Techospud Projects as we can. We have palm pilots available to use and are using themto perform DIBELS testing and to help those children in need to do some skills work. I try to offer my students practical uses of technology and skills that they will take with them through subsequent grades. The use of excel, powerpoint and the internet for research are all skills they will utilize more and more as they get older. When started at an early age, confidence in using technology
Name: Kevin Hodgson
School: William E. Norris Elementary School,
Grade: 6
Location: Southampton, Massachusetts
How You Are Using Tech In Your Classroom: I use all sorts of technology -- from Weblogs to Wikis -- but podcasting seems to have taken hold with my young writers, and last year, I started up a site called Youth Radio (http://youthradio.wordpress.com/) that connected my classroom with other upper elementary classrooms from around the United States, and the world. This started mostly with teachers in the National Writing Project but has now extended beyond those circles as more and more teachers get interested in flattening their classrooms. The blog site allows us to post podcasts and then use the Weblog comment feature to provide peer feedback and reaction to what they have heard from others. I find the technology has opened up windows for new audiences and changed the way my students view their work. Teachers have freedom and flexibility for integrating the podcasting site into their curriculum, and there has been a variety of projects -- from found poems inside of literature books, to first-person fictional narratives, to full-length digital story/plays.
Name: Charlie Unkeless
School: John Burroughs Middle School
Grade: 7
Location: Los Angeles
How You Are Using Tech In Your Classroom: I have been a 6th grade teacher for four years as part of the core math and science curriculum. I also taught art in the spring semesters. I am currently teaching a 7th grade elective in our computer lab. I started a class on Aeronautics using flight simulators purchased with a California Career Technology Grant which I was awarded this year. Some of our classes projects and pictures are located at GlidersAndAeronautics
I also encourage kids to create artwork in traditional ways after which I will allow them to scan or create alterations using Wacom tablets and paint programs. They learn classical techniques like constructing a golden rectangle and logarithmic spiral as an extension from their math class. Art Class
Hi Jen,
As a K-5 MST Specialist I have a few examples to share.
2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders are part of an HP grant, award and are collecting and identifying macro invertebrates to help determine water quality. They are also documenting examples of seasonal changes and human impact both positive and negative. These kids are using Tungsten E2 handhelds with Pasco sensors (temperature and pH) out in the field to collect real-time data. They are documenting their collections using digital cameras, recording their voices out in the field using iPods with Belkin voice recorders, and are marking the data collection spot with GPS units. Back in the classroom they are sharing their findings on our Pond Partners Wiki. They are scheduled to present their findings to the Monroe County Water Coalition meeting later in the spring.
3rd graders collect real-time weather data each morning using a Kestrel Pocket Weather Tracker. They also measure the length of a shadow stick (when we actually have a sunny morning here in western NY), and use a website to find the sunrise/sunset times and figure out the photoperiod. Every other week they use Excel to create graphs of the data. The amount of data collected so far and the opportunities for data analysis have been awesome.
To help 2nd graders explore concepts of migration related to the Monarch, we symbolically "migrated" from Canada to Mexico using GPS receivers. After our initial science classroom lessons on Monarchs, students used a Google Earth file created to mark key locations and travel the migration route of the butterfly. Then we headed outside. With GPS receivers in hand, students first had to locate and start at waypoint "CANADA". Once there they found a hidden cache with the first part of a story of a butterfly named "Monarch X." They navigated next to the second waypoint, in our town of Webster, NY. The story in that cache continued the story of Monarch X telling of the dangers the butterfly faced crossing Lake Ontario. The story continued on at each waypoint (total of 6) cache until we finally reached "Mexico." The GPS activity outside matched the locations previously explored on the Google Earth file. Throughout the journey the students learned what is meant to migrate, heard examples of perils faced by animals as they migrate, discovered predator/prey relationships, reinforced key geography terms and skills, and identified cause/effect relationships. The activity was followed up by sending paper butterflies to Mexico through the Journey North program. Journey North also provides students with maps of butterfly sightings during the migration.
Name: Carol Broos
School: Sunset Ridge School District #29
Grade: 4-8
Location: Northfield, Illinois
How You Are Using Tech In Your Classroom: I am the music teacher at the school and have a Soundtree Mac MIDI Lab. It has a GEC3 controller for communication with the students and teacher. iLife (iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand, iWeb) is the center of the lab, along with Sibelius, for composition. First, the fourth graders start on Sound Studio and the keyboard to record their stories. They compose music and produce projects that involve multi-media. The goal is to have all files posted on my website www.carolbroos.com Students comment on each other’s compositions and share files within the school. A group of talented musicians are also part of the Vermont MIDI project, where professional musicians comment on their compositions on the password protected site. www.vtmidi.org Students also create websites involving podcasts and music. Some of the more interesting ones are www.lazertron.net and www.chordsville.com Sunset Ridge just started a district-wide podcast website [[http://www.pod29.com+|www.pod29.com ]]where students and teachers can post podcasts on the web. There is an all-school musical where the stage crew runs the computer light board, wireless sound system and with headsets. Students run the technical side of the show. There are many “toys” within the music classroom: an audio recorder, so students could interview various people outside the classroom; two still cameras; three video cameras, for students to use in the classroom and home; various card readers, use for their personal memory sticks; and a HD camera for important music events. Finally, for teachers I developed a teacher-friendly website with links and where teachers can post their compositions. www.beatechie.com and two wiki's one for my presentations for teachers (http://musictechie.pbwiki.com/) and one for the teachers of Sunset Ridge to post their notes from conferences. http://srsconferences.pbwiki.com/
Name: Effie Waguespack
School: Paulina Elementary
Grade: First
Location: Paulina, Louisiana
How Are You Using Tech in Your Classroom: I try to incorporate technology in my classroom in meaningful ways. We have 5 desktop computers, 25 handhelds, 5 wireless handheld keyboards, a mimio, and an ELMO. We use Kid Pix, Kidspiration, Waterford, and Accelerated Reader software. On the handhelds we have vocabulary, spelling, and several math software. We also have an animation software called Novi Animator. We use the wireless keyboards along with the handhelds to type our creative writing stories. We use the mimio in a variety of ways such as watching Brainpop junior movies, creating whole class graphic organizers using Kidspiration, accessing information over the internet, and participating in internet projects. We have participated in many Technospud internet projects, Monster Exchange and The Tooth Tally Project. Our ELMO is another tech tool we love because it projects everything. We enjoy using it not only for teacher read stories but sharing our creative writing stories with the whole class. The ELMO has helped us all become better writers because we can project our stories and the whole class collaborates together to help find ways to make our writing better. As part of the Salute to Dr. Suess Project we created a class wiki. http://wagsclass.wikispaces.com/Dr.+Seuss We also have a classwebpage. http://www.stjames.k12.la.us/pes/ewaguespack/classwebpage/wag07.html